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Enhance protection of 1,000 miles of shoreline
Civic and political leadership fully committed to the health and vitality of Puget Sound is equally important to the on-the-ground efforts to create new parks and restore shorelines around the Sound undertaken by the Alliance and our partners. By working with state and local officials, as well as encouraging public participation, the Alliance hopes to achieve enhanced protection on 1,000 miles of shoreline through strengthened policies, effective implementation, and improved accountability by June 2009. Specific policy goals include: new efforts to prevent and clean up shoreline pollution and toxic sediment sites; reduction in the threat from invasive species; and increased protection for marine biodiversity.
The air, the water and the land we live in, near and on is our environment and what we are exposed to enters our bodies. Learn about what chemicals have been found in our fellow Washingtonians by reading the results of a study of toxic chemicals in Washingtonians.
What’s the state of Puget Sound? Has it gotten worse over the years or worse in certain areas? Are there indications that it’s getting better? Since the mid-1980s, the state has reported on the state of the Sound and the 2007 report on habitat, water quality, flora and fauna can be found here.
Puget Sound’s orca whales are a distinct population of three groups known collectively as the Southern resident group. These whales and their primary food, the Chinook salmon, are now listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. To keep track of the latest in the comings and goings of our local pods, join the Orca Network.
Puget Sound has one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world with 15 billion gallons of oil move across our waters in ships every year. Our four huge refineries receive tanker-loads of Alaskan oil hundreds of times every year. Standing duty part of the year is a rescue tug at the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca that has made 33 ‘rescues’ since 1999, saving us from disaster.
Preventing and controlling non-native plants and animals that may harm Puget Sound requires knowing what they look like and their life cycles. The invasive shoreline plant, Spartina, is a good example of how knowing what to look for can help in identification and eradication.
Whether the shorelines of Puget Sound are protected or allowed to be degraded by development and unregulated activities that hurt the Sound is up to citizens and local governments. Shoreline protections are accomplished through local critical area ordinances and shoreline master plans. What’s your city’s or county’s progress in protecting the shoreline?
The air, the water and the land we live in, near and on is our environment and what we are exposed to enters our bodies. Learn about what chemicals have been found in our fellow Washingtonians by reading the results of a study of toxic chemicals in Washingtonians.
What’s the state of Puget Sound? Has it gotten worse over the years or worse in certain areas? Are there indications that it’s getting better? Since the mid-1980s, the state has reported on the state of the Sound and the 2007 report on habitat, water quality, flora and fauna can be found here.
Puget Sound’s orca whales are a distinct population of three groups known collectively as the Southern resident group. These whales and their primary food, the Chinook salmon, are now listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. To keep track of the latest in the comings and goings of our local pods, join the Orca Network.
Puget Sound has one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world with 15 billion gallons of oil move across our waters in ships every year. Our four huge refineries receive tanker-loads of Alaskan oil hundreds of times every year. Standing duty part of the year is a rescue tug at the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca that has made 33 ‘rescues’ since 1999, saving us from disaster.
Preventing and controlling non-native plants and animals that may harm Puget Sound requires knowing what they look like and their life cycles. The invasive shoreline plant, Spartina, is a good example of how knowing what to look for can help in identification and eradication.
Whether the shorelines of Puget Sound are protected or allowed to be degraded by development and unregulated activities that hurt the Sound is up to citizens and local governments. Shoreline protections are accomplished through local critical area ordinances and shoreline master plans. What’s your city’s or county’s progress in protecting the shoreline?